Nothing Wrong With Memories
by ZivaFan2481
Summary: Ziva knew who Rachel was all along and they realize that there is nothing wrong with memories. Episode tag to 'A Man Walks Into A Bar'. Little Zibbs.


A/N: This is a little episode tag to 'A Man Walks Into A Bar' from season 8 that has been in my head for a while and you sort have to have seen that episode to make this make sense. It starts after the scene with Tony and Rachel Cranston in the morgue and will contain spoilers if you haven't seen it I guess. Thanks for reading and please review, they are greatly appreciated.

Oh and I do not own NCIS or the characters.

Ziva sat alone in the bullpen finishing up an email before she was planning on heading home. It was getting late and the only light in the room was from the small lamps from each desk. Ziva looked around at the unoccupied desks and sighed, she had no idea where Tony and McGee were and Gibbs was most likely grabbing more coffee. She had been on Gibbs team for years and his girlfriend for almost a year and she still could not understand how he could go to sleep with all of the caffeine.

She went back to her email and within a few minutes she had it sent off and she was ready to leave. As Ziva was shutting down carious programs on her desktop, she heard someone approaching from the direction of the elevator. She knew it was not one of her teammates, Tony and McGee always were chatting and she usually didn't hear Gibbs, only sensed he was close. That only left one person she could think of that would be at the bullpen at this time.

"Dr. Cranston, I thought you had talked to everyone by now. Who are you looking for?" Ziva said without taking her eyes off the computer.

The red head stared at the Israeli for a moment and then cleared her throat and stood in front of Ziva's desk. "Actually I wasn't looking for anyone, just looking around I guess."

"Not much to see right now." Ziva commented while gathering her stuff. The doctor just shrugged and looked around the abandoned bull pen. Ziva paused and decided to ask the question she was thinking all day. "So are these little evaluations with us going to count since you have a personal connection with us Rachel?"

Rachel stiffened and looked directly at Ziva. "When did you figure it out?"

Ziva met the doctor's eyes. "Well I always knew, it just took me a few minutes to remember that you were Kate's sister. Before you ask how I know, my research was very thorough all those years ago."

"Are you going to ask me what I am doing here?" Rachel asked her, "Why I didn't just tell everybody who I was?"

Ziva tilted her head and then got up and grabbed her coat. "I already know those answers; I know what it is like to lose a sibling." Ziva gave Rachel a half hearted smile, "Feel free to stay if you would like." She nodded towards her desk and then headed for the elevators without a glance back at Rachel.

NCISZibbsNCISZibbsNCIS

Rachel looked at the desk that she knew was once occupied by her sister and then around the empty room. She was going to take the agent's advice; she would for a few minutes.

Gibbs was looking forward to getting home to Ziva that night. It had been a long day and he knew that Ziva was upset about the evaluations. He had two cups of coffee in his hands, one for him and one for his girlfriend, hoping to find her at her desk. But, when he arrived at the bullpen ready to go, another woman was behind Ziva's desk.

Rachel was sleeping on the floor just like her sister used to. He knew that she was Kate's sister since the beginning although he had never actually met her in person. Gibbs also knew that she was here on a personal mission so he let it slide for the time being.

Going behind Ziva's desk he figured that he could make a fresh coffee for Ziva at home and used the one in his hand to wake the doctor. Within a few seconds, she was glaring at him. "So how'd we do?" He asked semi seriously.

"I can't tell, doctor patient privilege." She responded eyes still half open.

"Aw, come on Doc, it's me." He said before taking a sip of the hot liquid.

"Still one agent I haven't spoken to yet." Rachel pointed out.

Gibbs looked down at his hands and then back to her with a smile. "Well that's not gonna happen."

She returned the smile. "I forgot, you're perfect."

"No," Gibbs negated, he knew he was far from perfect. "I'm just too set in my ways to change now. You now when you were lying there a second ago, you looked just like your sister you know that?" Gibbs stated, might as well let her know. Rachel smiled at the comment. "Glad you reached out. You find what you were looking for?"

She nodded a little. "Finally got to meet the people closest to Kate when she died."

Gibbs understood. "Closure."

"Some, some. They have been better at letting go than I have." Rachel said as her voice started to shake before trying to stop herself with a sip of coffee.

"You don't forget, you just move on." Gibbs said and he knew it was the truth. He still held onto them; Shannon, Kelly, Kate, Jenny. With that he knew that he would try to help her, for Kate. "Come on, I want to show you something." He got up and pulled Rachel with him.

"Where are we going?" She asked although not hesitating to go with the agent.

"Home." He responded as he helped her into her coat and then escorted her out of the bullpen. No words were exchanged as they got into the car and eventually entered Gibbs' house. Without explanation he brought her to the basement that smelt of sawdust. Gibbs wondered a little where Ziva could have been since she was supposed to come over after work but continued with his plan.

"Stand right here." He directed the red head to a spot in front of him. "Right here, look down. Do you feel that? Right there?" Gibbs questioned her.

"What?" Rachel looked at him, trying to figure out how this spot had anything to do with her.

Gibbs decided to just give her the truth, no sugar coating, she deserved it. "This is where the guy who murdered Kate died." She gave him a wary look as if she wasn't quite sure what he had just said. "This is where Ziva shot her own brother, that Doc, is closure." He turned away from Rachel and looked up the stairs at Ziva who he had heard come in shortly after they did. Her eyes met with his and then Rachel's. The doctor instantly saw the pain in them, whether it was for her brother or Kate or Rachel, she was unsure.

Gibbs locked eyes with Ziva again and nodded reassuringly and then turned back to Rachel. "Now the rest is just memories, nothing wrong with memories." He then walked to the bottom of the stairs to take Ziva's hand to bring her down.

Ziva gave him an uncertain glance that showed him that she wasn't sure that this was the best idea. But, Gibbs gave her a look that told her that he would have her back so she followed him to the bench where he filled a few glasses with bourbon.

Silence reigned for a moment as no one wanted to speak until Rachel tried to break the tension. "Thank you for not calling me out in front of the others you two." She smiled a little, "I wanted to see what they were like and, well yeah." She trailed off looking into her mason jar before her next comment. "So how many know about you guys?"

Gibbs looked a little startled, no one knew that he and Ziva were together and they would like it to stay that way for a little while longer. Ziva on the other hand was suspecting it. "I thought you noticed, I guess we should be thanking you for not calling us out so thank you, Doctor."

Rachel smiled. "You are welcome and Rachel is fine. I have to say that you guys are very good at being subtle, I almost didn't catch on until Ziva looked for you for help when I told her she could go first."

"We try to be." Gibbs stated as her brought Ziva closer to him.

Another uncomfortable silence followed before Ziva spoke. "I am sorry." She said softly and at Rachel questioning look she elaborated even though she did not wish to. "For my brother. I was his sister; I should have known that he was not alright. Well, actually I think I knew that he was not alright but I chose to ignore it, we had just lost a sister and I did not want to lose him. In the end it did not matter. Maybe if I had said something, we might still have had our siblings." She blurted out; she was not good at sharing her emotions, especially when it came to her family.

Rachel stared at Ziva and then nodded. "I do not blame you Ziva. You are not responsible for your brother's actions and I never thought you were but thank you." She took a breath, "I think we all like to assume the best in the people that we trust most. And I read in your file about your sister, I am sorry about that."

Ziva looked at Gibbs knowing that this was getting a little too emotional for her, but her just held her closer giving her the support she needed. "We both loved Tali very much, the loss was hard. Maybe if she was still alive I would have never been thrown so deep into Mossad and Ari would have never taken that assignment. We could still be the kids that I remembered we were." A tear rolled down her cheek before she quickly wiped it away. "Sorry, I am being insensitive."

Rachel shook her head quickly. "No, no you aren't. You grew up with him, he was probably a caring brother right?" Ziva braced herself against Jethro and nodded slightly. "We love our siblings, we can't help it and it is better to remember the good things about people, not the negatives."

"There is nothing wrong with memories." Ziva said, the first time she had talked to Jethro about her brother, he had said the same thing.

Gibbs smiled down at Ziva and kissed her forehead. "Yup, nothing wrong with memories."


End file.
